[Footnote 22: It is from no desire to make innovations that I have modified old terms or made new. In the development of a science, it is wrong for the same word to designate two very different things; and, if we continue to apply the term _order of battle_ to the disposition of troops in line, it must be improper to designate certain important maneuvers by the terms _oblique order of battle_, _concave order of battle_, and it becomes necessary to use instead the terms _oblique system of battle_, &c. I prefer the method of designation I have adopted. The _order of battle_ on paper may take the name _plan of organization_, and the ordinary formation of troops upon the ground will then be called _line of battle_.] [Footnote 23: The park of Hougoumont, the hamlet of La Haye Sainte, and the rivulet of Papelotte were for Ney more serious obstacles than the famous position of Elchingen, where he forced a passage of the Danube, in 1805, upon the ruins of a burnt bridge. It may perhaps be said that the courage of the defenders in the two cases was not the same; but, throwing out of consideration this chance, it must be granted that the difficulties of a position, when properly taken advantage of, need not be insurmountable in order to render the attack abortive. At Elchingen the great height and steepness of the banks, rendering the fire almost ineffectual, were more disadvantageous than useful in the defense.] ARTICLE XXXI. Offensive Battles, and Different Orders of Battle. We understand by offensive battles those which an army fights when assaulting another in position.[24] An army reduced to the strategic defensive often takes the offensive by making an attack, and an army receiving an attack may, during the progress of the battle, take the offensive and obtain the advantages incident to it. History furnishes numerous examples of battles of each of these kinds. As defensive battles have been discussed in the preceding article, and the advantages of the defensive been pointed out, we will now proceed to the consideration of offensive movements. It must be admitted that the assailant generally has a moral advantage over the assailed, and almost always acts more understandingly than the latter, who must be more or less in a state of uncertainty. As soon as it is determined to attack the enemy, some order of attack must be adopted; and that is what I have thought ought to be called _order of battle_. It happens also quite frequently that a battle must be commenced without a detailed plan, because the position of the enemy is not entirely known. In either case it should be well understood that there is in every battle-field a decisive point, the possession of which, more than of any other, helps to secure the victory, by enabling its holder to make a proper application of the principles of war: arrangements should therefore be made for striking the decisive blow upon this point.